The EC intends to buy 13,95,648 new balloting units and 9,30,482 control units at an estimated cost of Rs 5,511 crore.

Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) are set to land business worth about Rs 5,500 crore, with the Election Commission (EC) getting "in principle" approval from the law ministry to buy about 14 lakh new electronic voting machines, or EVMs.

The EC intends to buy 13,95,648 new balloting units and 9,30,482 control units at an estimated cost of Rs 5,511 crore in a staggered manner, between 2015-16 and 2018-19.

Elections are due in Kerala, Puducherry, Assam, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu (2016), in Uttar Pradesh (2017), in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh (2018), besides Lok Sabha elections in 2019, when the Modi government's current term will come to an end.

The move has been necessitated since over 9 lakh EVMs are close to ending their 15-year-lifespan, reports PTI. The cost of an EVM is about Rs 20,000.

The two public sector units are the sole manufacturers of EVMs in India; BEL has also exported EVMs to Namibia and exploring EVMs as a business opportunity in Southeast Asia and Africa. Elections in Namibia were held using EVMs manufactured by the defence public sector undertaking.

The Bengaluru-based company shipped 5,850 customised EVMs to Namibia in three installments along with battery packs, tabulators and printers, according to IANS.

But details of revenues earned by BEL from the sale of EVMs are not available.